Plant Will Get Tax Bill Panther Creek To Pay $75,000

October 08, 1992|by CHRISTINA M. PARKER, Special to The Morning Call

Panther Creek Partners, owner of the new power plant in Nesquehoning, will receive a $75,000 tax bill -- payable to the Panther Valley School District -- when the plant begins commercial operations in November.

Carbon County Chief Tax Assessor David Ratajczak said yesterday the 80-megawatt plant was assessed this week at $717,420 and will be added to the tax rolls immediately.

The $75,000 represents 66 percent of the plant's assessed annual tax bill of $144,000. The district is entitled to the $75,000 -- about 4-1/2 mills -- for the 1992-93 fiscal year based on the period prorated from November through June.

Ratajczak said the plant has 40 days to appeal its assessment.

Plant officials had projected that the tax bill would be about $200,000 a year. That estimate was made in 1990, when construction was beginning.

Panther Creek General Manager Robert Svendsen attributes the difference between the original projections and the actual assessment to "differences in the overall makeup of the facility, comparable to when the project was begun. That includes the greenhouse that was in the original plans. Eliminating that probably made a difference."

Svendsen said yesterday that he and other plant officials had reviewed the tax assessment and that the "county was diligent in doing the assessment. It was done correctly, and the assessment is comparable with like facilities in other areas, given the minor differences in assessment methods."

Although the revenue will boost the school district's budget, Panther Valley Superintendent Joseph A. Dispenziere had anticipated a bigger benefit for the school district.

"I had hoped for a higher assessment and that we'd receive more money," Dispenziere said. "Every dollar means a lot to us."

School district Business Manager Ted Yackera Jr. said he talked with Ratajczak early this week.

"Dave told me that the power plant officials were very cooperative in the assessment process," Yackera said. "I was pleased to hear that, because it looks like Panther Valley's 1992-1993 budget will benefit from an infusion of $75,000. And the $114,000 we'll get next year should help to alleviate the burden on Panther Valley taxpayers."

School officials struggled through three budget revisions early this year to keep 1992-1993 property taxes from increasing.

The school district's low industrial tax base forces it to rely on property owners for about one-third of its $8.8 million 1992-1993 school budget, according to Yackera.